For each of us, not all genres are created equal. Horror is one of my preferred genres, so I’ll happily watch a formulaic horror with a 5.1 IMDB rating, whereas I’ll criticise a rom com with the same score for being cliched. And a musical had better be brining 8.5 to the table before I’ll even consider it. So when I say Lights Out is a good film, it’s with this bias.
It isn’t particularly original – it tells of a family haunted by a malevolent spirit. As the title suggests, the spirit – Diana – can only exist in the dark. This gives plenty of room for creepy scenes, jump shocks, tense search scenes. The jump shock is a hackneyed technique, but that doesn’t mean it’s not still effective. It is over-used, and films without much else going for them rely on it. Lights Out is neatly done, tightly scripted – it has a lot of resemblance to 2013’s Oculus (although that featured haunted mirrors, so wins).
As with The Babadook, it could be read as an allegory for depression, but it doesn’t forget it’s a horror film first. It doesn’t have any of the atmosphere, or originality of The Witch, say, but it’s a scary 90 minutes, and yeah, maybe I left the landing light on that night.